Moving, Remodeling, and Growing a Baby...

Well... I should clarify... the 'moving' and 'remodeling' refers to the house -- just the 'growing' part refers to the baby.  Only 65 days until our due date with darling daughter deux which is a timeline that provides elation and angst simultaneously.  Sweet, I only have 65 more days-ish until I can start recovering from this crazy neck, leg, back (and G-d knows where else) pain and hold my sweet new little bundle; but, I'm also thinking, Seriously, only 65 more days until this new flooring needs to be in so we can finish the built-ins and finally unpack all that crap in our master bedroom?  Oh, and don't even remind me that we have a door across the hall that opens up to framing and the dirt under our house because we had to completely demolish the bathroom that once resided there.  Yeah, it's all good, deep breaths...

Two Survival Tips (whilst or whilst-not pregnant) for a Mommy of a Toddler During --enter crazy life event here--  (eg. remodeling, holidays, moving, and home upheaval in general):
1. Projects
Neila and I have entered project mode. Projects that I can do while laying down are especially amazing!    Thank goodness for Pinterest because a fun and "easy" (hah!) project is just a click away.  A few of the adventures we've gotten ourselves into this month are:
-gingerbread cookie making/decorating/& partial eating (read: no actual eating of the cookies occurred, just frosting and candy);
-ornament hanging (and re-hanging and re-hanging and re-hanging and re-hanging, yet again) and, yes, I did stop myself from rearranging all of them... it was difficult, but I managed to allow all of our ornaments to reside below a 3ft height all month;
-painting holiday posters for the fridge (I swore I wouldn't be one of those parents who let their kid totally take over the space with crazy messy artwork and other five-second created nonsense, but it's just so darn cute and oh-my-goodness is she proud!)

2. Everything Toddler-Usable at Toddler-Reachable Level
I realized quickly that she has definitely entered the "I'll-do-it-myself" stage (well, half the time -- the other half it's "I-absolutely-could-never-do-that-by-myself-Mommy-do-everything" stage, which is equally as fun especially when you realize you're still spoon-feeding your three year-old at every meal... oops).  So, I've slowly be making sure to keep everything (everything!) that she could possibly ever think of playing with, at a height that she can reach (either on her own, or with her little step stool).  This has saved me, easily, a few thousand tiny little chunks of time that undoubtedly have saved my sanity. Although I'm sure my retention of that sanity would be called into question if my husband knew I was claiming to still have it... I did wander around our new neighborhood lost for two hours yesterday because I couldn't find my way home and I had forgotten to bring my phone with me... oops (didn't I already say that? #pregnancybrain).

In reflection, the new abode, new pregnancy, and new daily toddler-isms really have been super amazing.  I spend so much time reminding myself how tired and "ready" I am to move into a finished house and finished pregnancy that I'm afraid I've forgotten to sit and enjoy the parts that really are once-in-a-lifetime sweetness... baby's little kicks and rolls (and sometimes not-so-little kicks and rolls!), the fact that my first little one is so excited to have a little sister to care for that she talks to my belly in the tiniest and gentlest little voice I've ever heard, my perfect husband who lets me sleep in every single non-working day (seriously, every single one!) so I can get a few more minutes (sometimes hours!) of sleep... there are many more things to be grateful for than to complain/worry/stress/annoy others about and I needed this reminder to stop and reset my thoughts to focus on those.  The truth is I only get 65 more days to soak all of these things in before our family transforms once again... who cares if the bathroom is not done and there are stacks of boxes in our master bedroom?

Here's to a happy, joyous, and grateful new year and to us all remembering to choose which waves are worth surfing.